SMA America has launched its new Power+ Solution, combining the Sunny Boy US inverter with the TS4-R Module Level Power Electronics (MLPE) platform, to optimize residential PV systems and ensure higher energy yields.

The facility will be sited at Kodak’s Energy Storage Hub at the Eastman Business Park in the Finger Lakes. The high-density lithium ion battery manufacturer also will add a pilot production line, expected to be on line in a few weeks.

The solar+storage project utilizes EnSync’s Matrix Energy Management and SuperModule Energy Storage Platform on a 400 kW PV system.

The project is the first in partnership with the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) and the largest floating solar photovoltaic system in Florida to date.

Schneider Electric and Duke Energy Renewables announced an agreement to develop two microgrids to serve the Montgomery County, Maryland, Public Safety Headquarters and Correctional Facility under the microgrid as service financing model.

Aerospec Technologies is providing PV farm performance analysis with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that costs a tenth of on-ground analysis for a typical 100 MW array, according to Lance Li, CEO of the company.

Vaisala has launched a new solar weather station that provides all of the instrumentation required by solar project developers, operators and engineering teams for best practice resource assessment and monitoring.

The Solar Foundation’s 2016 National Solar Jobs Census shows that project development was the fastest growing job function last year at over 53 percent, while manufacturing jobs were up a robust 25 percent plus. Overall employment in the industry rose by over 24 percent to over 260,000 jobs. More than one out of every 50 new jobs created in the U.S. during 2016 was created by the solar industry.

GRID Alternatives and Enphase have partnered on solar+storage project in California’s Imperial Irrigation District (IID) territory that may help new PV customers avoid higher costs as they are moved into new billing programs, following fullfillment of the utility’s 5% net metering mandate.

Eos Energy Storage and Northern Power Systems have announced a strategic partnership to develop and offer integrated energy storage systems for utilities and commercial/industrial customers at a cost of less than $400/kWh installed.